Flax-scutcher



B. S. SUMMERS.

FLAX SCUTCHER.

APPUQATION HLED MN. 8. 1917.

Patented J um 10, 1919.

3 EETS-SHEET I.

s NORRIS FEYL'RS B. S. SUMMERS.

FLAX SCUTCHER.

APPLICATION mu) 1AN.8.1917.

Patented June 10, 1919.

' 3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

BERTRAND S. SUMMERS, 0F PORT HURON, MICHIGAN.

FLAX-SGUTGHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 10, 1919.

Application filed January 8, 1917. Serial No. 141,322.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERTRAND S. SUM- MERS, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Port Huron, in the county of Saint Clair and Stateof Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flax-Scutchers, of which the following is a specification.

It is the object of my invention to provide a relatively simple machinefor scutching flax in which the woody matter or shive is thoroughlybroken up and the fiber then submitted to the action of rotary beaterswhich thoroughly remove the adherent shive from the flax.

In my improved machine the flax is fed to longitudinally grooved rollerswhich immediately draw in the flax which passes between said rollers andis thereby thoroughly broken as to the woody matter, the fiber emergingbeyond the corrugated rolls a sufficient distance to present the greaterportion of its length to beaters arranged beyond the rolls, but beingretained by the latter and after treatment by the beater rolls again fedback through the corrugated feeding rolls and released. It may theneither be removed by the operator or again presented to the machineeither with or without reversing the flax and given further treatment.

In the drawings I have shown and in the following specificationdescribed in detail a preferred embodiment of my invention. It will beunderstood, however, that the specific disclosure is for the ,purpose ofexemplification only, and that the scope of the invention is defined inthe following claims in which I have endeavored to distinguish it fromthe prior art so far as known to me without, however, relinquishing orabandoning any portion or feature thereof. Referring to the drawings,Figure l is a side elevation of the preferred embodiment of theinvention; Fig. 2 a similar view from the opposite side of the machine;Fig. 3 a front elevation; and Fig. 4C a vertical longitudinal section ofa portion of the machine showing the interior construction.

Each part is identified by the same reference character wherever itoccurs throughout'the several views.

The frame 5 of the machine may be of any design suitable for supportingthe operating parts. It comprises in the form shown beams 6 and sidebrackets orstandards 7 suitably connected and the latter carrying attheir upper ends housings 8, within which are mounted corrugated rollsfor feeding and breaking the flax plants. The lower rolls 9, 9 aremounted in stationary bearings, but the upper rolls 10, 1O cooperatingtherewith are mounted in sliding bearings 11, 11 which are forceddownward by springs 12, 12, as shown more particularly in Figs. 1 and4:. In the latter figure the rolls are seen to be deeply corrugated orribbed and arranged in pairs with the ribs of the rolls of each pairintermeshing. The upper rolls are idle and the lower rolls are providedon their corresponding ends with pinions 13, 13 by which said lowerrolls are driven. A segmental rack or gear 14 is pivoted to the frame at15, and meshes with said. pinions and being given an oscillation bymeans to be presently described, turns the corrugated rolls first in onedirection and then in the reverse direction. The casting constitutingthe segmental gear is extended beyond the axis thereof to form a slottedarm 16, the slot 17 of which receives a slide or carrier 18 having awrist pin 19 mounted thereon- The wrist pin is connected by a link 20with a crank pin 21 on the crank arm 22 connected at 23 to the main ordrive shaft 24 of the machine. Obviously with each rotation of the driveshaft the segmental rack 14 is given an oscillation about its fulcrum15. The block 18 carrying the wrist pin 19 is adjustable in the slot 17in order to vary the stroke or extent of movement of the segmental rackand hence the rotation of the corrugated rolls in each direction. Forthis purpose the wrist pin 19 extends at its opposite ends throughhorizontal slides 25, 25 which are carried by guides 26, 26 verticallyadjustable upon guide rods 27, 27 supported at their opposite ends onthe frame of the machine at 28, 29. The guides carrying said slides arevertically adjusted together by means of links 80, 30, each connected atits lower end, as at 31, to its respective guide, and both connected attheir upper ends to a common pin or bolt 32. Said bolt is verticallyguided in a slot 33 formed in a bracket 34 secured to the housing at 35,and is adjustable in said slot by means of a hand lever 36 pivoted at37, and slotted at its short end (see dotted lines 39, Fig. 1) toembrace said pin. The lever 36-is extended to the front of the machinewhere it is formed with a handle 40 and provided with a latch 41 forengagement with a notched adjusting are 42. By adjusting the handleabout its pivot the guides 26 carrying the slides 25 are verticallyadjusted and thereby the position of the slide block 18 in the slot 17is --adjusted whereby the stroke or extent of oscillation of thesegmental rack, and hence the extent of revolution of the corrugatedrolls is controlled.

Immediately in front of the rolls is located a feed table or chute 43upon which the'flaX plants are laid by the operator to be fed to thecorr ugated rolls. Beyond the corrugated rolls are mounted an upper anda lower beating roll 6L4, 45, which are continuously driven in thedirection of the arro s andre e ae a d be t h axp ants as they arepresented by the rolls to remove the shive or woody particles therefrom.These rolls are, except in the respect to be mentioned, identical, eachconsisting of beater elements of hard wood alternating with spacing,disks of the same material. The heater elements each comprise heatingarms 4:6 extending a substantial distance beyond the intermediatespacing dis-ks 47, there being four such arms to each beater element inthe particular construction shown. The spacing disks47 are slightlythicker than the beater elements, and when the rolls are assembled inthe machine the beater elements of the one roll are opposite or inregistry with the spacing disks of the other roll with the locatingarmsintermeshed as shown in Figs. .3 and 4, The ibeater arms of eachro-llare arranged in four longitudinal rows, and upon the rear edges ofeach'row or, series of beater arms of the upper'roll-is secured a strip48, and upon the front edges of each series of arms of the lower roll issecured a similar metal strip 49, said strips being so located that asthe ibeaters are rotated they scrape along the upper and lower surfacesrespectively of the flax fiber or plants presented to the beaters andassist in removing shivc or woody. mattertherefrom.

The ibeater rolls are provided on their corresponding ends With gears50, 51, which intermesh and the flower gear engages and is driven by agear .52 carried by a stub shaft 53, Thestub shaft also carries a pulley.54

by which it is driven from a pulley 55 by means -,of the belt .56. Thepulley ;5 5 is mounted :on ,a second stub shaft 57 which carries a.second gpulley 58 -by' which :it is driven, and a ,gear .59 whichdrives thev main shaft Qfthrough the gear 60. 7

If desired a fan 61 may bemounted upon the housing 8 and driven from apulley 62 upon the shaft of the lower beater roll by means ofa belt263engaging-pulley 64 on the shaft ofsaid fan and guided byidlers-65, 66.From a consideration of the gearingof the slowly driven. In using themachine the operator places a bundle of flax plants upon the feed tablejust after the feed rolls have been reversed to feed material to thebeater rolls. The bundle is presented to the first pair of feed rollsand slowly fed therethrough to the second pair of feed rolls and sopresented to the beater rolls. In passing through the two sets ofcorrugated feed rolls the flax plants are sharply bent at frequentintervals whereby the cortical .or woody matter is broken and put incondition to be readily removed from thefiber. Whenthe fiber ispresented to the heaters and partially fed therethrough the latterstrike it a rapid succession of blows upon opposite sides, which removeany adhering shi-ve and are assisted in this operation by the strips ofmetal to which reference has heretofore been made. It is to beunderstood that the wrist pin by which thesegmental rack is driven is soadjusted with reference to the length ,of the .flax plants that thelatter may be fed so as to be thoroughly operated upon by the heatersand yet the ends retained in the corrugatedrolls sufiiciently to preventtheir, be ing drawn completely through by the action of .the beaterrolls. After a definite interval the ,flax is withdrawn from the beaterrolls by the corrugated rolls and returned to the feed table andcompletely released, and thereupon it may be reversed by theoperator andagain fed to the machine, or if need be again presented withoutreversal, ,or if sufficiently treated may be removed from the machineand a new bundle of fiaX substituted.

The operation of the machine including the corrugated rolls iscontinuous and with each reversal of the rolls,j;tha;t is to say, theirrotation in a direction to feed the flax followed by their rotation inthe reverse di rection to withdraw it from the beaters, a completetreatment of the flax except for that portion which is in the grip ,ofthe corrugated rolls is effected. As in any event it is desirablethatthe rolls be started in their feeding movement before the {flax is againfed to them, there is ample time for the operator to reverse the flexorlsllbstitute anew bundle before again feeding the machine withoutpermittingitto run idly through a cycle. By adjusting the extent ofmovement of the segment as {desoribed,ac,coriding to the length vo-ffiaxbeing treated, the material may at ,eachJoperation be given athorough beating without being drawn from the grip offthe corrugatedrolls. The form of :the beatersis such as to divide-i the sheet ofalaxafibers or plants into a series ,of separate small bundles extendingbetween the heaters .so

that the plants are thoroughly exposed throughout to the action of thebeaters.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, gripping rolls, means forcontinuously rotating said rolls alternately in opposite directions,heaters adjacent the bite of said rolls and means for operating theheaters and a feed table arranged to feed material to said rolls and toreceive it therefrom.

,2. In a device of the class described, a pair of intermeshingcorrugated rolls, means for alternately rotating the rolls to an equalextent in opposite directions, beaters arranged adjacent the bite of therolls and means for operating the heaters and a feed table arranged tofeed material to said rolls and to receive it therefrom.

3. In a device of the class described, gripping rolls, a pinion on theend of one of the rolls, a segment gear engaging the pinion, means foroscillating the segment gear to rotate said pinion equal amounts inopposite directions, and beaters arranged adjacent the bite of the rollsto Which the material is fed by the latter.

4. In a device of the class described, gripping rolls, a pinion on theend of one of said rolls, a segment engaging the pinion having a slotsubstantially radial of said segment, a Wrist pin reciprocable in saidslot, means for reciprocating .said pin to oscillate the segment, meansfor adjusting the pin in the slot to adjust the extent of oscillation ofthe segment, and beaters arranged adjacent the bite of said rolls.

5. In a device of the class described, gripping rolls, a pinion mountedupon the end of one of said rolls, a segment gear engaging said pinion,a Wrist pin adjustable substantially radially With respect to saidsegment, a slide engaging said pin and movable therewith, means foradjusting the slide toward and from the axis of the segment, means forreciprocating the pin to oscillate the segment, and beaters adjacent thebite of the rolls.

6. In a device of the class described, a pair of gripping rolls, apinion on the shaft of one of said rolls, a segment meshing With saidpinion, a Wrist pin adjustable and reciprocable toward and from the axisof said segment, a slide bar engaging said pin, guides for said slidebar, means for simultaneously adjusting said guides to carry said pintoward and from the axis of the segment, and beaters adjacent the biteof said rolls.

7. In a device of the class described, a pair of gripping rolls, apinion on the shaft of one of said rolls, a segmental gear engaging thepinion, a Wrist pin adjustable radially With respect to said segment,

means for adjusting said pin comprising a slide, guides carrying saidslide, links connected to said guides and a lever connected to saidlinks, means for oscillating said pin, and beater rolls adjacent thebite of said gripping rolls.

8. In a device of the class described, a pair of beater rolls eachcomprising a series of beater elements, and a series of intermediatespacing elements of slightly greater thickness than the beater elements,the beater elements each having a number of arms, the beater elements onone roll being arranged opposite the spacing elements on the other rollwith the beater arms of the respective rolls intermeshing.

9. In a device of the class described, a pair of beater rolls eachcomprising a series of beater elements and a series of intermediatespacing elements, the beater elements having beater arms arranged inlongitudinal rows, a scraping strip arranged on the corresponding edgesof the beater arms of each row, the spacing elements, being of slightlygreater thickness than the beating elements, the beater elements of oneroll being arranged opposite the spacing elements of the other roll withthe beating arm of the respective rolls intermeshmg.

BERTRAND S. SUMMERS.

Witnesses:

D. U. BANTS, D. D. BROWN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

